Ikea launches home delivery in ACT

Ikea launches home delivery in ACT

Ikea launches home delivery in Canberra today.

IKEA has launched home delivery and online ordering for the first time in Australia, with Canberrans the first in line for the new service.

From today, customers in the ACT will be able to order online and either collect in store or receive home delivery. The click-and-collect fee is $20. Home delivery costs start from $79 and are dependent on location.

The move follows the launch of click-and-collect in Tasmania earlier this month. Ikea says it will expand the delivery service to regional locations surrounding the ACT as the service progresses.

Ikea Australia country manager David Hood expects to see a sales uplift of around 10 per cent. He said the launch in Canberra was due to it being a “very controlled market” where “it’s easy for us to see exactly what happens”.

“Because of the volumes we deal with, we need to ensure the whole infrastructure and logistics are set up and in place,” he said.

“Next August we will have a brand new national distribution centre opening in northwest Sydney, which is a huge part of the creating the preconditions allowing us to take further steps.

“If we can do this in Canberra then we’ll start to look in January next year at which other markets and stores we want to progressively roll this out.”

Mr Hood said there was a possibility of expanding online ordering and delivery for specific segments only, such as kitchens, not just geographical areas.

“Kitchens is more than 10 per cent of our total turnover and growing very fast,” he said. “We feel there’s an opportunity in the kitchen market to work with online solutions. Previously you had to come in and meet with someone.

“Now we have an online planning tool, that’s step one. Step two is being able to order online, and step three is being able to deliver.”

As major retailers including Woolworths and Wesfarmers assemble “war rooms” to plan for the arrival next year of e-commerce giant Amazon, Mr Hood said he preferred to focus on Ikea’s strengths.

“No disrespect to any other retailer,” he said. “We know we’ve got a fabulous range and a very specific position in the market. Of course you look at them, but I think we should focus on what we’re good at, rather than sit in a dark room and worry about Amazon.”

In a statement, Ikea Canberra store manager Charmaine Hick said: “We’re thrilled to be the first in the country to provide our customers with even more opportunities to able to purchase from Ikea.

“Since we opened a year ago we’ve been lucky enough to welcome almost 1.5 million visitors through our door. We’re hoping the introduction of our first complete online shopping service, including home delivery will help us to achieve our vision to provide a wide range of affordable, quality home furnishing products to even more of the many people of the ACT and beyond.”

The company the developments were “important steps for Ikea Australia, which aims to make its multichannel offer available to more Australians over the coming years”.

Ikea multichannel manager Michael Donath said multichannel was “not something we will roll out to all Australians at the same time”.

“It’s about ensuring that we’re ready as an organisation to deliver a seamless experience for our customers wherever and whenever they choose to shop with Ikea,” he said.

“The ACT is an important market for us to launch our first full-service multichannel offering and we hope to take what is successful in this market into the regional areas surrounding the ACT in the coming months.”

Welcome to ACA World, the Aussie Cargo Alliance. The place for you to list your business if it has a relationship with International Cargo and Logistics. Make new contacts, find suppliers, source products and search our Directory.